Posts tagged ‘Actual Play’

I’d never run the Dresden Files before but I have a hankering to run the game to the extent that I’m planning to stop my long-running Geist game in favour of it. Being overly confident in my own ability to wing things I decided to learn the basics of the Fate system behind the game in a week and then run it as a one-off sampler game after the AGS Intro Meeting.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Ten – The Tale of Two Prisoners

30th-31st October, 1949

So in walks the boss, and cradled in his arms is Shirley, but she’s not looking in a good way with more holes in her than a dutch cheese. I don’t know many people who could take that kind of punishment and survive it, but the boss seems to have hope as he gets onto his boss to have a Doc sent round. I don’t know how the boss is feeling, he’s covering it up pretty well, but I’m gutted, and Rocky is clearly devastated. Despite their little fall out the boss is determined to take care of her, and I find myself wanting to do the same. I like having Shirley around, and she’d sure be missed. Anyways, turns out that Sinclair chap is still out in the van, Rocky and I are sent out to bring him in too. I don’t know what’s up with the guy, he’s not exactly got a lot of blood on him, but he can’t even move. With the boss taking care of those two, and our captives in the bathroom, it’s sure going to be crowded in here tonight.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Nine – The Terrible Tong and the Collapsed Cliff

Early Afternoon, 30th October, 1949

POV: Shirley Homes

The situation certainly was sticky, stickier than a kid enjoying their Halloween hoard. As Bill and I rounded the bend we could see James’ car in the distance, being pushed closer to the edge of the cliff by the large gaunt. Bill approached it as fast as he was able, but going uphill was a struggle for his car. The Tong fish van behind us also held a pack of troubles that we didn’t need to deal with when we got to the end of the road. I couldn’t do anything to help James from here, so I decided to try and slow down the van behind us. Winding down the window I turned in the seat, so I could find my target through the rear window. My heart sank as I saw the golden goons hanging out of the van all held tommy guns pointed at us. I hoped to incapacitate the driver or van giving Bill a chance to pull away from them. Holding my arm out the window I aimed at the man behind the wheel, squeezing the trigger of my Webley and Scott… Just as the car jolted over a pothole. I tried to keep my hand steady, but realised my aim had been off as I saw steam start to spew out of the engine. I guess I’d hit the radiator, but the van didn’t noticeably start to slow down.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Eight – Enter the Tong Torturer

Late Evening, 29th October, 1949

I ain’t proud of it, but during my breathing days there were plenty of times I woke up after a night with too many whiskeys in it with a nasty taste in my mouth, like metal, vinegar and bile. This case is beginning to taste like that, sour like old pennies soaked in vomit.

Shirley doesn’t know who to trust any more, and she made the mistake of telling Jake about her doubts. The tension between the two of ‘em is like a gathering storm, and when it breaks I don’t know who’s going to come off worst. Doubt and suspicion are contagious, and Jake’s beginning to wonder if maybe the Pattersons really are involved in my death, somehow. The evidence is certainly sending mixed signals, and it’s getting to the stage where Jake isn’t even sure if he can trust his own boss.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Seven – Depth of Deception

Afternoon, 29th October, 1949

I could see that the case was gnawing at Shirley’s innards the way a rat chews on gristle. Sure, we were friends, but her obsession with solving my murder was down to more than that. Every time she thought of my corpse laying in the artificial chill of the morgue, I knew she could see her brother looking back at her out of my own empty eyes. That was the key to her need for answers; she felt like she’d failed her brother and this was her way of atoning.

The problem was, where did she go from here? More importantly, who could she trust?

She thought she knew where she stood with Jake Bullet, thought she could trust him. She knew he was focused on business, but not cruel. That all started to change after he used her like a slab of meat this morning, making her cry out in pain as he took his ‘payment’ just to make himself look strong in the eyes of his goons.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Six – The Hornet’s Nest

Morning, 29th October, 1949

It never ceases to amaze me how money can open up doors, even the ones with solid steel bars and obstinate locks to go with ‘em. Despite the eye witnesses in the case of the destroyed building and the other evidence against Giles, Ruby’s fancy lawyer and her donation to the judge’s retirement fund got Giles sprung loose before the arraignment hearing was even over. A short while after that he vanished in a limo to Ruby’s mansion, and I have to wonder if he knows what he was letting himself in for.

Meanwhile, things are hotting up with the investigation into my murder. Shirley not only spurned Inich and Matthew’s advances but threatened the assistant lab-rat with a gun, too. I don’t know him too well, but I can’t help but think that ain’t the kind of insult that either of them is going to take lying down.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Five – Date With Death

Late Evening, 28th October, 1949

I heard about it weeks before I got given a one-way ticket to the afterlife, but frankly I never had the guts to look into it. I wasn’t sure that I could stand another stab in the guts, another slap in the face, another dead end in my never-ending search for the dame who tore me apart and left me like roadkill.

All the while I knew there was a classy number who matched the description of my Eva dancing in that Eastowne cabaret, I could hold on to the hope, the fantasy that it would be her. We’d be reunited, and she’d fall into my arms, tears of shame and joy smudging her perfect mascara as she begged me to come back to her.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Four – Life is a Cabaret

28th October, 1949

So next thing I knew, Giles was trying a jumpsuit with arrows on for size. With Ruby busy pullin’ strings to try and get him out, that left the other three on the job. I didn’t know how much longer I could expect this mismatched trio to keep their own lives on ice while they tried to find out who put an end to mine, but frankly I was grateful for all the help I could get.

They’d been tossing around theories while, across town, Giles was getting the screws put on him by the Crystal Ball Squad, but I couldn’t quite believe where one of their theories was taking them.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Three – Boiling Point

28th October, 1949

I hoped that Giles would be too caught up in the hunt for my killer to dwell on the fact that he was all alone again, and it seemed to be working, for a while. Sure, he was still acting hinky, with the mumbling and the strangeness, but a few eccentricities are understandable when you’ve been through as much as that poor sap has.

Case One – The Death of Harry Fontaine

Chapter Two – Dead Men Tell No Tales

27th October, 1949, 11:25 AM

The mobster, the socialite, the historian, the private dick, the crazy scientist; they had nothing in common with each other except my death, and a few minutes after they crammed themselves into my office there were already signs of strain. Only time would tell whether they could stick together long enough to do anything productive before exploding like a cheap firework.